Oil-gas flare-off at Egmont well site

Press, 26 October 1982, Page 6

Oil-gas flare-off at Egmont well site

f>A Nfw Plymouth •/ A roar like thunder told Taranaki farmers this weekend that Petrocorp had begun flaring gas from its Kaimiro-1 well near Egmont Village. Showings of gas at the well have recently provoked speculation that the Kaimiro well may signal.the prospect of a new oil-gas find similar to the highly rated McKee field near Waitara. Farmers in the Egmont Village area said yesterday a large flare was burning at the well site from 4.30 p.m. on Saturday until early on Sunday. They said the flame

was accompanied by the sound of cracking and noises like thunder which shook the ground. “We thought it was a thunder storm when it started." said a farmer's wife who lives near the well site. "It was still going when we went to bed at 11 p.m.” The flare does not mean that Petrocorp has necessarily found commercial quantities of gas or oil in the well but it is a sign that there are more than traces of hydrocarbons present. Flaring at an exploration well site usually occurs when engineers are testing the flow rate of hydrocarbons

from the well. The company first said it had hydrocarbon indications in the well in early September. Rumours about a significant find increased during the month. On October 11 Petrocorp’s general manager. Mr Jim Hogg, said during a visit to New Plymouth that gas show’s in the well had been sufficient to warrant further testing and the flowing is the latest of these. Flares burning at exploration well sites were the first public signs of success at Taranaki’s two onshore discoveries at Kapuni and McKee.